'Lord Of The Rings' Series Reportedly Cost $58 Million Per Episode

Last week, we learned that Netflix was spending $30 million per episode on the fourth season of “Stranger Things,” which is double the costs of the final season of HBO‘s “Game of Thrones” at $15 million per and a huge jump from the $6 million price tag on the first season episodes of “Stranger Things.” That’s not the only high-priced streaming series on the way.

Variety claims that Amazon‘s expensive “The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power” is costing them a little over $58 million per episode for the first season which has eight episodes ($465 million total) and is said to have a five-season commitment from Prime Video, with season two moving production from Auckland, New Zealand to the United Kingdom.

READ MORE: ‘Stranger Things’: Netflix Reportedly Spent A Hefty $30 Million Per Episode On Season 4

Taking place in the Second Age of Middle-Earth, the Amazon original project loosely based on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien will cover ancient kingdoms and some new/established characters that were alive at that time such as Galadriel played by Morfydd Clark, Elrond played by Robert Aramayo, and Charles Edwards in the key role of Celebrimbor, the elf that helps forge the Rings of Power for the Dark Lord Sauron. We’ll see Maxim Baldry as Isildur of Númenor, the King of Gondor and ancestor of Aragorn from the Peter Jackson film trilogy that took place in the Third Age. Here is the show’s synopsis:

Beginning in a time of relative peace, the series follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains to the majestic forests of the elf-capital of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

In their report, Variety also highlights HBO’s “House of The Dragon” series coming out in August, which is getting a slight bump in costs from “Game of Thrones” at $20 million a pop. The prequel focuses on the Targaryen family that ruled the fantasy kingdom with the help of dragons and is based on the George R.R. Martin novel “Fire & Blood.”

“Lord of The Rings” will make its debut on September 2.